Transformations
by Rhiannon A. Christy
Summary: Tumblr Prompt: ShieldShock: Steve's favorite time of day is when Darcy comes home from being Tony's PA. He loves watching the transformation from Mini-Potts into his Darcy.


Prompt #1: ShieldShock: Steve's favorite time of day is when Darcy comes home from being Tony's PA. He loves watching the transformation from Mini-Potts into his Darcy.

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Transformations:

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Steve would be hard-pressed to pick just one moment in the day that he could call his favorite. There were the mornings when he woke up curled around his wife, her curves pressed perfectly against his body. There were Saturday mornings when they slept in until noon and then spent the rest of the day in their PJs watching eighties children's cartoons. There was the long, slow love making in the early hours of Sunday morning where he drove Darcy to the edge again and again until even he no longer had energy. There were moments of hectic chaos as they passed each other throughout the work day, and the moments of rest during lunch break that they sometimes filled with frantic kissing and touching. But out of everything, Steve would have to admit in the end that his favorite time of day was somewhat more inconspicuous.

The door to their apartment of rooms opened and closed with a certain finality that anyone watching would be in no doubt that the woman entering had no plans to leave again for some time. Darcy stood just in the entrance for a moment, taking in a deep breath. This was how it was every night. Darcy would enter and just take a moment to gather herself. Steve wasn't sure she realized how she looked, how that one breath changed her whole demeanor.

Darcy worked for Tony, or really she worked for Pepper as Tony's PA slash babysitter. No matter what anyone told her, she had been convinced when she got the job she had to be just like Pepper to make it work. And so she started molding herself into a sort of Mini-Potts. It had bothered Steve at first, he didn't like seeing the woman he loved transform into someone completely different. It hadn't been until he had seen her at work that he realized what she had done. The persona she wore was no different than his Captain America suit; it was her armor.

Steve watched as Darcy exhaled, the mask starting to peel away with that breath. She toed off her shoes, her toes wiggling in the thick carpet as she bent down to clasp them in two fingers. She smiled as she passed him on her way to their room. It only took Steve a moment before he was up and following her.

When he entered the room she had already placed the shoes back on their shelf in the closet and was headed for her vanity. Neither of them talked, both simply taking comfort in being able to be completely silent.

Steve moved around Darcy, reaching into the drawer at their bedside to pull out the old pair of yoga pants and oversized t-shirt that she wore around their apartment. He set them on the edge of the bed before sitting down himself. There was something relaxing about watching Darcy transform from Tony Stark's PA to the woman he had fallen in love with.

He leaned back against the headboard, hands resting behind his head. He focused on Darcy as she started work to pull out each and every bobby-pin. He smiled as she made sure to place each one in the little gold box he had bought her. When she had first taken the job she had simply tossed the little pieces of twisted metal on her vanity, and of course they always ended up buried in the carpet. He had been shot at, tossed from buildings, planes, cut, and stabbed, but he had never known real pain until he had one of those devil pins stuck in the arch of his foot in the middle of the night.

Steve itched to stand behind her and bury his hands in her hair as she let the thick curls fall around her shoulders. It took all his resolve to remain where he was and just watch. Her jewelry came next, each piece removed and carefully placed in the antique jewelry-box she had found during their honeymoon. His wife had never been one of those women huge on jewelry or trinkets, she liked the small, understated things like the simple gold chain that dangled around her neck that held a single silver disk; a replica of his shield no bigger than his thumbnail. Or the small gold studs in her ears and the thin watch around her wrist. The flashiest piece of jewelry she wore was probably her wedding ring; a band of yellow and rose gold and platinum woven together to create a celtic-knot, a princess cut diamond set in the center and flanked by two sapphires the same color as her eyes.

With the jewelry safely put away, Darcy stood and piece by piece peeled herself from her clothing. It wasn't that he didn't like her work clothing, each piece was beautiful and tailored to fit her perfectly. The problem was that they just didn't show the woman that he had fallen in love with.

The day they had met, Darcy had been wearing a pair of tie-dye yoga pants and an oversized Culver hoodie. He had gone to visit Thor, having his team member almost harassing him weekly to do so, only to be greeted at the door by a raggedy woman with her hair piled on top her head and a spoonful of marshmallow fluff stuck in her mouth. He had been rendered speechless, though the woman looked like she had just rolled out of bed he still thought she had to have been the most beautiful woman in existence.

Standing before him now he still thought she was the most beautiful woman ever to have been created. She smiled at him with that same shy smile she had given him that first day, a smile that still made his heart race. He watched as she slipped her bra and panties off and tossed them behind her to the basket they kept under the window. A window he had learned to keep shut after she one day accidentally tossed her bra down to the street below.

He figured that the scene she made, the tumbling chocolate locks, the bright red lips, and the completely nude body could be considered sexually arousing. And alright, it was, but she could wear a potato sack and he would still want to jump her. The thing was, at that moment he found more peace in the scene in front of him than anything. A calm smile of his own spreading across his face as she slid into the clothing he set out for her.

With the transformation almost complete, he sat up a bit straighter as she went to the bathroom to remove her contacts. When she came back into the room he had shifted so that one leg hung off of the bed while the other remained on top. She smiled tiredly at him and promptly slid into his lap, her arms curling around his neck. She started to lean in for a kiss, but stopped with a quizzical look as he held her back. With a quick movement he reached over to the nightstand and grabbed a pair of horn-rimmed glasses and slid them deftly onto her nose.

"There's my girl." Steve laughed at the roll of her eyes. She never failed to tease him about his obsession of watching her after work, but he knew she understood. She did a similar thing when he returned from missions and changed out of his uniform. They might have been Captain America and Mrs. Lewis-Rogers; PA, but at home they were simply Steve and Darcy.

"I'm always your girl." Darcy snuggled into the chest of her husband, grateful for the end of the day.

"I know, but you are different in your work clothes. You're stiff and uncomfortable, like you are being squeezed throughout the day. When you are like this, you're comfortable, relaxed." Steve reached out and wound a curl around his finger, letting it go and watching it bounce softly against her cheek.

"Being relaxed has less to do with what I'm wearing and more to do with whom I'm with. I'm comfortable and relaxed because I'm home with you. I could wear nothing but a corset and seven inch stilettos and as long as I'm with you I will be fine." Darcy leaned in, her fingers playing with the ends of his hair at the base of his neck.

"I think I would be ok with that." Steve laughed at the look that crossed Darcy's face. She had introduced him to the wonderful world of modern lingerie more than any other woman he had been with, and it still amazed him when she brought home something new.

"I will think about it. So, now do I get my kiss?" Darcy puckered up slightly, pushing her chest a bit further into his.

"Proceed."

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Author's Note: Sorry this is so late! I had meant to get this done the day after I got it, but finals are coming up quickly and all the teachers are pilling stuff on to get caught up so I've been so busy that I've had little time to do anything but study, eat, sleep, and attend class.

Anyway, I LOVE this prompt, seriously! I love writing domestic Darcy/Steve. Hope it was what you wanted, and seriously, thank you for sending this, I had a lot of fun writing it.

**Disclaimer:****All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.**


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